Return To Vinyl

In this episode - Return to Vinyl . . .

Can you name the tune from the introduction? Stick with me, and we will reveal it at the end of this podcast.

You may have missed it - Saturday, April 22, 2023, was Record Store Day. It was news to me. By chance, to get a new cartridge for my turntable, I made a trip to our local store (Standards) in Vista, CA. The store was crawling with customers. What's going on? So I had to look it up.

Record Store Day started on April 19, 2008, and was founded by Chris Brown, a record store employee in Baltimore, Maryland, and Eric Levin, the owner of Criminal Records in Atlanta, Georgia. The purpose of Record Store Day is to celebrate and promote independent record stores and the unique culture they foster. It has since grown into an international event, with hundreds of record stores participating worldwide.

In 2022, 41 million vinyl units were sold compared to 33 million CDs, highlighting a "remarkable resurgence" of the physical music format, per the Thursday report; according to The Recording Industry Association of America® (RIAA), Vinyl records made up 70% of all physical music sales in 2022, bringing in a total of $1.2 billion in revenue.

A little historical content. The vinyl LP (long-playing record) was invented in 1948 by Columbia Records. The LP significantly improved over the 78 rpm shellac discs that were the standard, allowing for longer playing time and better sound quality. The LP was made possible by the invention of vinyl, a durable and flexible plastic material that could be molded into grooves to hold sound recordings. Vinyl was first developed in the 1920s, but in the late 1940s, it became the standard material for record production.

Columbia Records introduced the first LP in June 1948, 12 inches in diameter, and played at 33 1/3 revolutions per minute (RPM). This allowed up to 25 minutes of music to be recorded on each side of the disc, compared to the four or five minutes that could fit on a 78-rpm disc.

The introduction of the LP revolutionized the music industry, allowing for longer, more complex recordings and helping to establish the “album concept” as a complete artistic statement. The LP also helped to popularize a wide range of music genres, from classical music to jazz, blues, and rock and roll.

What's your most memorable moment visiting a record store? I'd have to say my first visit in 1986 to Tower Records on Sunset Blvd. was epic after my move to Los Angeles. Browsing my collection, I discovered the album "True" by Spandau Ballet, released in 1983.

My listening friends, what are you waiting for, stop reading this and drop an LP onto your turntable and enjoy!

I'm Patrick Ball; thanks for listening. See you in the next episode.

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